<\/p>\n
On October 9, Days of Our Lives<\/a><\/em> will air a special episode<\/a> dedicated to Melissa Reeves<\/a>, who is marking 40 years since her debut as Jennifer Horton Deveraux.<\/p>\n For Reeves, the tribute came as a complete surprise. \u201cI was reading my script and thinking, \u2018Oh, this is great. There are so many flashbacks. That means fewer lines to learn,’\u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd I\u2019m flipping through the pages very quickly, scanning to see what I\u2019m going to be doing, and then at the very last page, it says, \u2018Final chyron screen. Happy Anniversary, Melissa Reeves. 40 years.\u2019 I immediately texted Janet [Spellman Drucker, then-coexecutive producer] and was like, \u2018Janet, I am crying. I had no idea that anyone was going to do this, and I\u2019m just honored. I\u2019m humbled, I\u2019m blessed, and I\u2019m grateful that I can watch my life in one show. I can\u2019t even explain to you just how special that is.’\u201d<\/p>\n Reeves\u2019 road to Salem began in 1984, when she landed the role of Jade Perkins on a new NBC soap, Santa Barbara<\/a><\/em>. At the time, the 17-year-old was training to be a dancer and dreaming about landing a role in Cats<\/em> on Broadway, but she relocated to Los Angeles to be part of the launch.<\/p>\n By 1985, with the Perkins family being phased out, Reeves was thinking about a return to the East Coast when an audition for DAYS<\/em> rerouted her path for good. Though familiar with soaps, Reeves had never seen an episode of the show. \u201cI was an ABC fan,\u201d she shares. \u201cI would watch Ryan\u2019s Hope<\/em><\/a>, All My Children<\/a><\/em>, One Life to Live<\/a><\/em>, General Hospital<\/a><\/em>, and Edge of Night<\/em><\/a> all day long when I was off from school. So, I had no clue who was on Days of Our Lives<\/em>, and maybe that was better, because I walked in not knowing it or the characters, and it ended up being the greatest gift of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n